The Free Software Foundation is reviewing Novell's right to sell new versions of Linux operating system software after the open-source community criticized Novell for teaming up with Microsoft. "The community of people wants to do anything they can to interfere with this deal and all deals like it. They have every reason to be deeply concerned that this is the beginning of a significant patent aggression by Microsoft," Eben Moglen, the Foundation's general counsel, said on Friday. Update: The FSF claims this is being hyped.

Linux, in this context, means Linux the OS, not the kernel. And Linux as an OS would be pretty much crippled without the GNU tool(chain)s.

I think the Novell controversy will gain more attention as more and more free software projects switch to GPL v3 - which is design to prevent such patent deals that Novell entered with Microsoft. Which is a good thing imho - such patent deals runs contrary to the spirit of the GPL, though not the letter of v2.

And in concecuense we will have more GPLv3 and less usuability in Linux, less formats for the user, forget about ipod compatiblity, etc, etc, and in concecuense less users meaning the dead of the main GPL project, Linux, companies can fork BSD or give to it more support, I say change all the software you can to GPLv3 and see how its popularity falls, just like GNUSense distro w/o the ability to use mp3, something users demands.

What color is the sky on your planet? It would be nice to live in a world where programmers could concentrate solely on the code, but we don't. We live in a world of Rambus and SCO. We live in a world where slapping a lawsuit on a competitor is just as valid a tactic to gain market-share as releasing a great new version of a product.

Just because open-source projects are done voluntarily does not mean that they are immune to damaging legal tactics. The situation that tied up BSD for years wrangling with AT&T should be all the proof you need of the FSF's belief that free software needs strong legal protection. At the end of the day, Linux is competing with a convicted monopolist. Relying on their best intentions and neglecting to protect yourself is stupid, plain and simple.

And in concecuense we will have more GPLv3 and less usuability in Linux, less formats for the user, forget about ipod compatiblity, etc, etc, and in concecuense less users meaning the dead of the main GPL project, Linux, companies can fork BSD or give to it more support, I say change all the software you can to GPLv3 and see how its popularity falls, just like GNUSense distro w/o the ability to use mp3, something users demands.

Actually, with top music companies experimenting with non-copy-protected MP3's and several European countries ruling that Apple's DRM is illegal, people engaged in the kinds of shenanigans that GPL3 is designed to prevent are soon going to find that the writing is on the wall anyway.